Diary: Lighting restrictions in force

 

Stories from The Luton News: Thursday, October 28th, 1915.

The Lighting Order which at a special meeting last week the Luton Town Council decided to apply for was obtained and put into effect on Saturday evening.

On that evening the police were busy visiting shops and causing window lighting to be reduced, while on Monday the kerbing at corners leading off the main road was whitened, and also were parts of lamp columns and tramway poles to make them more visible to foot passengers after dark.

On Sunday evening, notice was given in the Anglican churches that from Sunday next until further notice evensong would commence at 5.30 instead of 6.30, and on Monday a meeting of the Free Church Council made a similar decision.

The granting of the Order was formally reported to the Town Council by the Town Clerk on Tuesday evening, and there was considerable discussion as to the neglect of some people to comply with the Order, and the steps which would have to be taken to compel them to comply. The suggestion was that the Chief Constable should be asked to permit lighting up to six o'clock, and after that time take definite steps to secure full compliance with the order.

  • Red Cross DaySaturday was "Our Day" in Luton and a very successful flag effort was made on behalf of the British Red Cross Society. In total more than £300 was raised, including £6 5s raised through a raffle conducted by Mr Hugh Cumberland for a lady's handbag made and donated by Mrs Godfrey, an 83-year-old lady living in High Town Road.

  • A verdict of suicide while temporarily insane was returned by a jury at the inquest on Elsie Eleanor Ritchie, aged 18, whose body was recovered from the lake at Wardown the previous Friday with photographs of a soldier sewn inside her underclothing and resting against her heart. The Coroner said there could be no doubt that death was due to suffocation by drowning and from letters left there was no doubt she intended to take her own life. A final letter dated October 13th and addressed to her soldier lover at the Front said: "By the time you receive this I shall be lying at the bottom of Wardown Lake." A post-mortem examination showed the girl was not in trouble and it seemed to be entirely a case where the deceased at brooded over an imaginary grievance and at last took her own life.

  • Mr T. H. Few, stationmaster at the Great Northern Railway Station, Luton, has been officially notified that his youngest son, Pte Charles Whelpton Few, of the 1st Eastern Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C., has died of dysentery while on a ship in the Mediterranean. The "Luton Medicals," as they are called, were the last first-line Bedfordshire Territorial Unit to leave this country for service abroad.

  • Sad news has been received by Mrs Carter, 112 Hartley Road, Luton, that her son, Pte Charles Carter, of the East Anglian Cycle Corps, was reported to have died of dysentery on board the hospital ship Assaye on October 14th and had been buried at sea.

  • Pte George Messenger, 9729, 2nd Bedford Regt, whose home is at 130 Wenlock Street, Luton, was yesterday in the official list of wounded. On enquiry, however, we find he was gassed in the great advance, and has been in England about three weeks. He is now in the Lord Derby War Hospital at Warrington, Lancashire.

  • Pte William Odell, of Sundon, a reservist of the Bedfordshire Regiment who was called up on the outbreak of war, has been twice wounded. In the early part of the campaign with the 1st Bedfords he received a bullet through his wrist, and was wounded again before Whitsun by a dum-dum bullet entering his left arm. He has been in the Oxford Hospital ever since.

  • Mr and Mrs F. Gathard, of 4 Lyndhurst Road, Luton, yesterday received a letter from their son, Sapper S. Gathard, 1/2nd Field Company, E.A.R.E., stating that he had arrived at the East Leeds Military Hospital suffering from dysentery and rheumatism.

  • Cpl Edward James Hobbs, who had served seven years in the Northampton Regiment, wrote to his uncle, Mr William Cadger, of 'Meadowcroft', Alexandra Avenue, Luton, to say he had been promoted to Captain in the Royal Sussex Regiment.

  • Luton has felt the effect of Lord Derby's scheme for there has been a better influx of recruits for the Regular Army at the Corn Exchange. During the week since last Thursday the following are along those who enlisted there - J. Hale, J. T. Charlton, C. Rathbone, G. Camp, P. Cooper, I. J. Randall, T. E. Franklin, E. Lamb, G. Carter, H. J. Wells, T. R. Corney, H. Hewson, W. Buggs, P. W. Manton, F. Southwell, W. Wilson, C. C. Bunce, S. Chalkley, A. Smith, W. W. Plater, A. Kirchin, J. E. Day, T. Northwood, B. A. Gore, J. George, A. H. Roberts, F. A. Goodson, G. Dennis (Luton), L. W. Fleckney (Darley Hall), plus 19 others from nearby towns and villages.

  • Nine members of the Luton News staff have now joined the Colours, the latest being Sapper A. E. Martin, 1/6th Field Company, 2nd London Divisional Engineers, and Sapper Charles Richards, 3/2nd Field Company, East Anglian Royal Engineers. Of the others, one has been killed, one wounded and one invalided from the Mediterranean.

  • The wedding took place at Park Street Baptist Church on Tuesday between Second Lieut Alexander Aitken Davidson, 2/4th Gordon Highlanders, younger son of Mr and Mrs Davidson, of Aberdeen, and Julia Grace Looker, youngest daughter of Mr and Mrs W. Looker, of 'The Briars', Luton. The couple went to Scotland for their honeymoon prior to the bridegroom rejoining his regiment.

  • The funeral of the late Mr William Henry Leete, the County Surveyor, took place at the Luton General Cemetery on Thursday. He died in Bedford at the age of 68 on October 18th and the body was brought to Luton in Messrs Neville's motor hearse which was met by mourners at the Midland Station.

  • In the course of the Local Government Board enquiry into the Luton Corporation's application for sanction to a £30,000 loan for extensions at the Electricity Works, the Town Clerk (Mr William Smith) gave some remarkable figures as to the enormous increase in the amount of current supplied during the last few years. In 1912 the current supplied to private consumers was little better than 2½ million units, while the latest figures show an annual consumption of upwards of 8½ units. Such progress is phenomenal and, though it is satisfactory in one sense, it naturally means a very anxious time for the committee in making provision to meet demand.

  • Luton Choral Society will give one concert during the present winter. This will be on December 8th in the Assembly Hall and the net proceeds will be given to the local branch of the Red Cross Society.

  • The number of illegitimate births in Luton during the quarter ended September 30th was 18, as compared with ten in the corresponding quarter of 1914.

  • Attendance at the Waller Street Baths during the year ended September 30th was 148,968, an increase of 81,300 over the previous year.

  • There has been a marked increase in recent months in the poultry section of Messrs J. Cumberland and Sons' weekly sale at the Auction Mart in New Bedford Road, and the prices ruling may be described at unprecedented in the experiences of this old-established market. On Monday there was again a large quantity of birds for sale, nearly 600 being penned. Trade was brisk and several lots of finished fowls made from 3s 4d to 4s 4d per head.

  • There was a crowded and enthusiastic audience at the Town Hall on Saturday when the Amalgamated Society of Engineers celebrated the opening of their second branch in Luton due to increasing membership. Mr Murray W. Janes, Secretary of No 1 Branch, said it was a red-letter day for trade unionism in the town.